John Laster
N/A
Licensed for 42 years
Law Degree
Awards
Primary Practice Area
Estate Planning
Language
English
About
John Laster is a lawyer licensed to practice in Virginia, Maryland, and the District of Columbia. He limits his practice to wealth transfer planning, trusts, wills, powers of attorney, healthcare decision issues, estate administration, estate taxes, elder law, and disability concerns. An AV® PreeminentTM Peer Review RatedSM attorney by Martindale-Hubbell®, John is listed in The Best Lawyers in America and Virginia Super Lawyers. He is an adjunct professor in Aging and the Law at Georgetown University Law School. He is also a frequent speaker for both lay and professional groups. A member of the D.C. Estate Planning Council, John has lectured for many institutions, government agencies, civic organizations, and professional associations. He annually teaches lawyers about planning for incapacity at a D.C. Bar Continuing Legal Education program. In addition, he has served as chair of the Committee on Special Needs Trusts and Long Term Care of the American Bar Association Section on Real Property, Trust and Estate Law. He is a founding member of the National Academy of Elder Law Attorneys and a charter member of the Academy for Special Needs Planning. For more than 25 years, his clients have included seniors with grandchildren, "sandwich generation" caregivers, young parents with newborns, couples whose adult child has significant disabilities, individuals in non-traditional relationships, and single people. Some of his clients possess great material wealth; others do not. Some are motivated to preserve assets in a challenging wealth transfer tax environment. Others are primarily concerned with safeguarding the well-being of their dependents. Still others focus their energy on improving life on this planet through charitable means. All of his clients are united in having chosen to improve the future for someone other than themselves. He participated in the 1994 Fordham University invitational conference to clarify ethical issues that arise in connection with representing seniors and the 2001 Stetson University invitational Wingspan conference to revisit issues of guardianship reform. John serves on the board of directors of Community Living Alternatives, Inc., a Northern Virginia organization that serves the needs of persons with disabilities. John graduated from Oberlin College and Catholic University. He is married to Barbara Laster, a reading professor. Together, they live in Northern Virginia with assorted family members—some who live there and some who just come to visit!
Practices Areas
Estate Planning
Probate
Elder Law
Language
English
Contact
Reviews
We hired John Laster to put together our first set of estate planning documents (wills; powers of attorney; health/ HIPPA, financial and incapacity agent designations). The interview was aided by a helpful client data sheet that we filled out and emailed back, and a fee schedule that let us know what we would be charged up front, depending on the complexity of what we ultimately wanted done. Mr. Laster provided us with excellent guidance, minimizing unnecessary costs, based on our interview. He was very personable and easy to talk with, which put us at ease. We would recommend Mr. Laster to anyone seeking these services.
John Laster was highly recommended to me. My partner and I find his legal services on a continuing basis excellent. He very carefully considered our overall family needs and personal interests in developing our estate plans and legal directives. Subsequent events have verified his health care recommendations.
I am not an attorney. However, I have spent a long professional life in program and policy issues related to aging. I selected John Laster as my attorney as a result of professional recommendations and I have not been disappointed. He is clearly not a "one size fits all" attorney. He spent considerable time counseling me and my partner on the selection and wording of instruments to insure that my wishes will be observed in the event that I am incapacitated. His assistance was also valuable in reviewing my fathers legal directives. I recommend without hesitation.
John and his team were so helpful when I was named executor of an estate that I hired him to help plan mine. The estate I administered went without a hitch. The setting up of my trust and planning of my estate also went very smoothly. John's warm personality, sense of humor and very thorough manner fit my style to a "T." I highly recommend him.
From the moment I began to work with John Laster on estate planning, I had complete faith that my affairs were in order and would be kept that way. I recommend him without reservation.
We hired John Laster to put together our first set of estate planning documents (wills; powers of attorney; health/ HIPPA, financial and incapacity agent designations). The interview was aided by a helpful client data sheet that we filled out and emailed back, and a fee schedule that let us know what we would be charged up front, depending on the complexity of what we ultimately wanted done. Mr. Laster provided us with excellent guidance, minimizing unnecessary costs, based on our interview. He was very personable and easy to talk with, which put us at ease. We would recommend Mr. Laster to anyone seeking these services.
John Laster was highly recommended to me. My partner and I find his legal services on a continuing basis excellent. He very carefully considered our overall family needs and personal interests in developing our estate plans and legal directives. Subsequent events have verified his health care recommendations.
I am not an attorney. However, I have spent a long professional life in program and policy issues related to aging. I selected John Laster as my attorney as a result of professional recommendations and I have not been disappointed. He is clearly not a "one size fits all" attorney. He spent considerable time counseling me and my partner on the selection and wording of instruments to insure that my wishes will be observed in the event that I am incapacitated. His assistance was also valuable in reviewing my fathers legal directives. I recommend without hesitation.
John and his team were so helpful when I was named executor of an estate that I hired him to help plan mine. The estate I administered went without a hitch. The setting up of my trust and planning of my estate also went very smoothly. John's warm personality, sense of humor and very thorough manner fit my style to a "T." I highly recommend him.
From the moment I began to work with John Laster on estate planning, I had complete faith that my affairs were in order and would be kept that way. I recommend him without reservation.
We hired John Laster to put together our first set of estate planning documents (wills; powers of attorney; health/ HIPPA, financial and incapacity agent designations). The interview was aided by a helpful client data sheet that we filled out and emailed back, and a fee schedule that let us know what we would be charged up front, depending on the complexity of what we ultimately wanted done. Mr. Laster provided us with excellent guidance, minimizing unnecessary costs, based on our interview. He was very personable and easy to talk with, which put us at ease. We would recommend Mr. Laster to anyone seeking these services.
John Laster was highly recommended to me. My partner and I find his legal services on a continuing basis excellent. He very carefully considered our overall family needs and personal interests in developing our estate plans and legal directives. Subsequent events have verified his health care recommendations.
I am not an attorney. However, I have spent a long professional life in program and policy issues related to aging. I selected John Laster as my attorney as a result of professional recommendations and I have not been disappointed. He is clearly not a "one size fits all" attorney. He spent considerable time counseling me and my partner on the selection and wording of instruments to insure that my wishes will be observed in the event that I am incapacitated. His assistance was also valuable in reviewing my fathers legal directives. I recommend without hesitation.
John and his team were so helpful when I was named executor of an estate that I hired him to help plan mine. The estate I administered went without a hitch. The setting up of my trust and planning of my estate also went very smoothly. John's warm personality, sense of humor and very thorough manner fit my style to a "T." I highly recommend him.
From the moment I began to work with John Laster on estate planning, I had complete faith that my affairs were in order and would be kept that way. I recommend him without reservation.
We hired John Laster to put together our first set of estate planning documents (wills; powers of attorney; health/ HIPPA, financial and incapacity agent designations). The interview was aided by a helpful client data sheet that we filled out and emailed back, and a fee schedule that let us know what we would be charged up front, depending on the complexity of what we ultimately wanted done. Mr. Laster provided us with excellent guidance, minimizing unnecessary costs, based on our interview. He was very personable and easy to talk with, which put us at ease. We would recommend Mr. Laster to anyone seeking these services.
John Laster was highly recommended to me. My partner and I find his legal services on a continuing basis excellent. He very carefully considered our overall family needs and personal interests in developing our estate plans and legal directives. Subsequent events have verified his health care recommendations.
I am not an attorney. However, I have spent a long professional life in program and policy issues related to aging. I selected John Laster as my attorney as a result of professional recommendations and I have not been disappointed. He is clearly not a "one size fits all" attorney. He spent considerable time counseling me and my partner on the selection and wording of instruments to insure that my wishes will be observed in the event that I am incapacitated. His assistance was also valuable in reviewing my fathers legal directives. I recommend without hesitation.
John and his team were so helpful when I was named executor of an estate that I hired him to help plan mine. The estate I administered went without a hitch. The setting up of my trust and planning of my estate also went very smoothly. John's warm personality, sense of humor and very thorough manner fit my style to a "T." I highly recommend him.
From the moment I began to work with John Laster on estate planning, I had complete faith that my affairs were in order and would be kept that way. I recommend him without reservation.